Seeing Fear
by SparklyTree3876
Summary: Set during X2. Kurt could see the fear in the children's eyes as he and Ororo led them toward Cerebro. He didn't blame them because he was just as scared as they were. This is a glimpse into his thoughts during the trip down the corridor.


Seeing Fear  
By SparklyTree3876

Rating: PG

Genre: General

Pairing: Kurt/Ororo (implied)

Author's Notes: Hi, everyone. I have another X-Men movieverse one shot for you to read. When I was watching X2: X-Men United on a recorded tape a few months ago, I began to wonder what Kurt might have been thinking when he and Ororo were leading the children, including Jubilee, to safety after rescuing them from the clutches of Stryker's men. The idea for this fic was born. There's another reason why I wrote this fic, and it's because there is a lack of X-Men movieverse fics focusing on Kurt or at least giving him a major role. I may come up with more featuring him, including a few where he is paired up with Ororo. I hope you enjoy this little one shot. Any constructive criticism is welcome.

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I can feel my heart pounding as Ororo and I led the children we had just rescued from the clutches of Stryker's men toward Cerebro. In fact, it is pounding so hard that I believe it will burst out of my chest any second now. I had never been this scared in all my life because we don't have very much time. From what Mystique was able to find on the computers in the main control room of the Alkali Lake dam, we determined Stryker had built a second version of Cerebro and kidnapped the professor to use him to destroy every mutant in the world.

I can see the fear in the children's eyes, and I don't blame them. From what they told Ororo and me, they had endured many hours of sitting on a cold concrete floor in a cell that was damp and dingy. They'd had rifles pointed at them, like they were going to be shot. The guards who had watched them laughed at their fear and talked about which one of them appeared the most scared. A person has to be pretty sick to point a rifle at a frightened child and laugh at his fear. No child should have to feel such fear in at any time in their short lives. They have a right to have lives filled with peace and love. Unfortunately, these children live in a world where both things are hard to come by. All around them, people hate and fear mutants. They do unspeakable things to them. Some of these things are so sick that I don't want to talk about them.

The corridor we're going down is long and mostly dark with little lighting. There seems to be no end in sight, sort of like the labyrinth that holds the Minotaur, the half-man, half-bull monster of Greek mythology. The labyrinth is said to be so full of twists and turns that you can never be sure where you will end up. In fact, it is said to change frequently, further confusing those who enter. If I ended up in a place like that without my teleporting ability, I would be scared out of my mind, like I am now. Fear can have such a profound effect on you if you let it control you. It can make you act rashly and make reckless decisions. It's all right to feel fear, but you can't let it control you. Otherwise, you will never be able to get anywhere in life, and that is a tragedy in itself.

There's one thing I don't understand. Why did Stryker kidnap these children in the first place? They weren't of any use to him, except to be used as possible hostages. I guess mutant children aren't worth anything and are just as diseased as the adults are in his eyes. In my eyes, children are very precious, whether they are mutants or not. Their innocence brings a light to my eyes, and I treasure every set of eyes I look into. It isn't right to turn away a child just because they are different. If I had turned away a child just because he wasn't a mutant, that would make me no better than Stryker himself.

I don't hate people who hate me because of what I look like. Rather than hate, I pity them. Then again, what did we mutants do to deserve such rough treatment? Why do people hate those who are the slightest bit different? My best guess is that they are scared they will be replaced by mutants or that they are just jealous of having abilities far beyond their own. They don't want those who are different hanging around them because they think it will make them that way. I am no stranger to Stryker because some of his men kidnapped me several days ago. He brainwashed me into attacking the President of the United States. I could see what I was doing, but I couldn't control myself. I feel regret for trying to kill him because it wasn't in my nature. In fact, murder is a mortal sin in the eyes of God. Killing someone just because they are different is really sick, and neither side of the human/mutant conflict is completely innocent. Both sides have their fair share of horrible people.

I look into the eyes of one of the children, and she looks at me. She is a young Asian girl and looks to be at least seventeen years old. Her name is Jubilee, and she looks like she is a very sweet girl who's full of life and warmth. She told me about her friends back at home and that she was worried about them. She was relieved when I told her Marie was okay and had come with us because she, Bobby, and John had nowhere to go after we were nearly killed by fighter jets that shot us down. She said she didn't know what happened to Peter and Kitty when Stryker attacked her home and kidnapped her and her fellow students, and she told me she hoped they were okay, but she's scared something terrible had happened to them. I hope to God they are okay.

It's understandable that Jubilee is scared about the fate of Peter, Kitty, and the rest of her fellow students. I'd feel that way if I were in her position. In fact, many people would. Uncertainty has a seemingly unbreakable grip on her, and it's such a strong emotion that seems to offer no comfortable whatsoever. You can't breathe. You can't speak. You can't think about anything, except what may or may not happen to you. Life can come at you so fast you don't even have time to blink. Everything can be gone in the blink of an eye.

I look at Ororo, and she looks at me. I can tell she is very scared, even if she hasn't told me. She doesn't want anything to happen to Jubilee and the other students, but she isn't sure if we are going to get out of this alive. I don't want anything to happen to her or them. If something did happen to Ororo, I don't know what in God's name I would do without her. She means a lot to me, though I haven't known her for long. I feel a kindred spirit between us. I could actually see she had a good heart, despite being filled with bitterness and uncertainty. She told me she gave up on pitying people who hated her a long time ago and that anger is sometimes is the only way to get through life.

Why would a woman as beautiful as she is and filled with such kindness and warmth toward her students be so angry at the world because it fears what it doesn't understand? Her answer was that she was just as afraid of normal people as they were of her. I can understand why she would be, but being angry at them won't make anything better. It will only make things worse, and showing kindness and love toward people is the best way to deal with all the hate in the world, even if people don't show any of either in return. I know she's capable of showing both because I saw her show these emotions to Jubilee and the other students when we first found them. She was so relieved they were okay, despite they were shaken from being imprisoned.

Right now, all we can do continue our trek through the corridor toward Cerebro. It feels like it will never end, but all things do have an end, and I hope we reach it soon. We will continue to be filled with a lot of fear until we get out of here. In the darkest hour, there is always a light, and I know God will take care of us and get us out of here alive. Even if we can't see Him, He is all around us and with us in our hearts. Through His love, we'll make it out alive.

THE END


End file.
